Brother from another mother

Jasmine Singh

A friend for life! And the urban dictionary calls him a brother from another mother, a friend who is extremely close to you to the point that he is almost like your brother—but from a different mother. This Rakhi, brothers who have no blood relation to sisters who have been tying rakhis for as long as they can remember, tell us what makes this bond special and how far they would keep its sanctity!

Bond with the best

Rahul Juneja, a mass communication student from SD College-32, no matter where he is, has to be by the side of Raksham Mittal and Swati Dutta, his muh-boli sisters.

“It is a day which each one of us feel like Phoolon ka taaron ka kehna hai, ek hazaaroin main mere behna hai,” Rahul shares without letting the special bond between his sisters lose weight for a second. The three musketeers have a list of cousins they have to wait to see on the day of Rakhi. Swati gets emotional. “The strength of a relationship doesn’t come with a blood relation tag.”

“To me Rahul is a brother, even if he doesn’t come with the ‘real’ or cousins tag,” adds Raksham, as she waits for her gift from Rahul whom she would tie a rakhi for the fourth year now.

To this, Rahul would only add, “They are my sisters and I am going to be there for the two no matter what.”

Pact for life

Lakhwinder Singh and Aastha Madaan do not understand why a blood tie is a criterion to judge the authenticity of a relationship. “She is a sweet and silly girl, naïve, not worldly wise,” this is how Lakhwinder sees his sister Aastha.

Aastha has been tying Lakhwinder rakhi for more than five years. The fact remains that she has her cousins and brother in blood relations to lay claim to the rakhis first.

“I get this feeling that Lakhwinder will be there for me no matter what. I can’t explain why I feel he is more of a true brother, he does what a brother does, we fight, we really fight like crazy but slightest trouble and he is there,” adds Aastha whose folks in fact wait for Lakhwinder to come home every Rakhi.

Chal mere bhai

Nikita and Piyush are ideal bhai behen, fighting throughout the day, teasing each other, and at the same time, guarding each other’s back all the time. They don’t believe blood brothers or cousins have the first right over a rakhi. On the contrary, Nikita somehow feels, “I don’t know, if I land up in a bad situation, he is going to be the first one to bail me out.” She adds, “I never think about Piyush when I am done tying rakhi to my brothers and cousins, he is the first one to call me and ask me when I would be coming or when can he come down.”

Piyush also understands the sacredness of this relationship. “She is going to be my liability for the rest of my life,” he laughs.

Take care

Sheryl Anthony and Yaser Khan work together. “This is where I met Yaser, I don’t have words to define the moment, but I felt comfortable from the word go. He is very protective about me, and is in every way more real than a real brother.” Even though, Yaser has shifted to Saudi Arabia, Sheryl makes sure the rakhi reaches him on time always!